D
Deleted member 1881
Guest
Before I start, I want to thank @Dr Watson who recently uploaded a great photo with a Semogue boar brush, full covered with lather (Proraso Red Soap, Super Formula), that caught my attention. He told that it feels equal to an artisan soap, density and slickness of the lather.
Equipment:
Muhle R41 a.k.a "The Beast" (2013)
Feather Blade #1
Razorock Plissoft 24mm Bruce
The bowl was never wide so I scooped out a BIG quantity and placed in my favourite bowl. I started with almost dry brush to load, and I instantly realized that I had to do with a thirsty soap. Keep in mind though I used more than enough soap for just one shave.
I added water, drip by drip, with the fear of destroying the lather, but no, this thing wanted more. I soon saw some shiny, pasty lather around the edges of the bowl. I kept adding water.
Then I put it on the face. Felt soft, almost fluffy, but when I swirled the brush for a few minutes, it started to dry and asking for more water; "What the heck, I didn't buy Barrister & Mann, I only gave 3 euros."
After I gave it so much water, to the point just before gets drippy, I loaded the damn Feather into the Beast. "Let the party begin, I thought".
1st pass WTG: The beast easily destroyed 7 days of growth, but the first impression for me was: "Did I really put a brand new Feather in there?" I always had very bad experience with this combo, with almost every soap. Maybe my technique is improved, because I have almost 2 years to use a Feather and because I hate them, they are overly sharp and harsh for no reason, I don't believe they shave deeper than any other sharp blade (you name it).
While, I wasn't impressed with the slickness, I thought that the soap did its job for the first pass and protected me perfectly from the R41's jaws. No problems whatsoever.
2nd pass XTG: I liked a lot the density of the lather, coverage was one of the best in this pass, wasn't thin and was still very shiny and didn't collapse. The slickness was better now, and the R41 was singing. No pressure of course, it was like a cat had this razor in her foot and was shaving my face. No problems here too. I did some ATG under the neck, great cushion.
3rd pass: Now I was a bit of afraid, so made the lather slicker and grabbed more soap for the final pass to fully cover the face again. Great again in this aspect, Proraso gave excellent coverage. I was almost sure that on the ATG pass I will see blood, I had never a blood-free shaves with the Feather even in milder razors.
NO GENTS. Slickness was there, didn't let the razor catch the skin and I decided to make longer strokes to avoid stopping the beast somewhere on my face, where I would definitely regret doing that. I tried not to shave where there was no lather because I found that residual slickness was good but not Ariana & Evans good to shave again and again the same spot without irritation. However, I didn't see any blood.
On the moustache area, a difficult part for me to go ATG, the razor was catching skin a lot, so I decided to change the angle and go even more gentle. Well, I can confirm that the result there was so perfect that I couldnt believe my eyes when I finished the pass.
Some touch ups, I overdid it of course to give you the full extend of this soap, although it didn't feel overly slick, it offered me such a close shave without any blood or heat.
For some reason though, later when I put the Proraso Blue Balm on, some redness with pimples was developed near & around my mouth, I definitely overshaved there. Few minutes later, it was gone.
The Feather is a very sharp blade, kinda merciless, but I get the same results with Polsilvers, Nacets, Permasharps and Personnas Med Prep without being so harsh on the skin. I don't believe Feather shaves closer than them, at least on my face. However, I totally respect those who love these blades and I suggest to keep buying them.
The shave was one of the closest ever gents. In conclusion, Proraso White Super Formula has nothing to be jealous of high end soaps, definitely there are soaps that impress with their slickness, but the final purpose of a soap is to offer a close/irritation free shave.
And that thing Proraso gave it to me.
Thanks for reading.
Randy
Edit: grammar/syntax
Equipment:
Muhle R41 a.k.a "The Beast" (2013)
Feather Blade #1
Razorock Plissoft 24mm Bruce
The bowl was never wide so I scooped out a BIG quantity and placed in my favourite bowl. I started with almost dry brush to load, and I instantly realized that I had to do with a thirsty soap. Keep in mind though I used more than enough soap for just one shave.
I added water, drip by drip, with the fear of destroying the lather, but no, this thing wanted more. I soon saw some shiny, pasty lather around the edges of the bowl. I kept adding water.
Then I put it on the face. Felt soft, almost fluffy, but when I swirled the brush for a few minutes, it started to dry and asking for more water; "What the heck, I didn't buy Barrister & Mann, I only gave 3 euros."
After I gave it so much water, to the point just before gets drippy, I loaded the damn Feather into the Beast. "Let the party begin, I thought".
1st pass WTG: The beast easily destroyed 7 days of growth, but the first impression for me was: "Did I really put a brand new Feather in there?" I always had very bad experience with this combo, with almost every soap. Maybe my technique is improved, because I have almost 2 years to use a Feather and because I hate them, they are overly sharp and harsh for no reason, I don't believe they shave deeper than any other sharp blade (you name it).
While, I wasn't impressed with the slickness, I thought that the soap did its job for the first pass and protected me perfectly from the R41's jaws. No problems whatsoever.
2nd pass XTG: I liked a lot the density of the lather, coverage was one of the best in this pass, wasn't thin and was still very shiny and didn't collapse. The slickness was better now, and the R41 was singing. No pressure of course, it was like a cat had this razor in her foot and was shaving my face. No problems here too. I did some ATG under the neck, great cushion.
3rd pass: Now I was a bit of afraid, so made the lather slicker and grabbed more soap for the final pass to fully cover the face again. Great again in this aspect, Proraso gave excellent coverage. I was almost sure that on the ATG pass I will see blood, I had never a blood-free shaves with the Feather even in milder razors.
NO GENTS. Slickness was there, didn't let the razor catch the skin and I decided to make longer strokes to avoid stopping the beast somewhere on my face, where I would definitely regret doing that. I tried not to shave where there was no lather because I found that residual slickness was good but not Ariana & Evans good to shave again and again the same spot without irritation. However, I didn't see any blood.
On the moustache area, a difficult part for me to go ATG, the razor was catching skin a lot, so I decided to change the angle and go even more gentle. Well, I can confirm that the result there was so perfect that I couldnt believe my eyes when I finished the pass.
Some touch ups, I overdid it of course to give you the full extend of this soap, although it didn't feel overly slick, it offered me such a close shave without any blood or heat.
For some reason though, later when I put the Proraso Blue Balm on, some redness with pimples was developed near & around my mouth, I definitely overshaved there. Few minutes later, it was gone.
The Feather is a very sharp blade, kinda merciless, but I get the same results with Polsilvers, Nacets, Permasharps and Personnas Med Prep without being so harsh on the skin. I don't believe Feather shaves closer than them, at least on my face. However, I totally respect those who love these blades and I suggest to keep buying them.
The shave was one of the closest ever gents. In conclusion, Proraso White Super Formula has nothing to be jealous of high end soaps, definitely there are soaps that impress with their slickness, but the final purpose of a soap is to offer a close/irritation free shave.
And that thing Proraso gave it to me.
Thanks for reading.
Randy
Edit: grammar/syntax
Last edited by a moderator:
